Stop the sale of real seahorses on Etsy

Recent signers:
Tony Lawn and 19 others have signed recently.

The Issue

Etsy has been found to allow the sale of real seahorses in jewellery and other trinkets.  Seahorses dead or alive, whole or part thereof and even in antique items can't be legally sold, and yet they can be found for sale online. These creatures are protected under Appendix II of CITES. CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.  Millions and millions of seahorses are killed every year for fashion accessories, trinkets and Chinese medicine.  It is projected that in 30 years seahorses will be extinct.

It is a legal requirement to be able to prove that the seahorses are harvested from a sustainable source (even though any harvesting of seahorses is morally wrong, whether sustainable or not).  However, enquiries to date by The Seahorse Trust have shown that many sellers on Etsy are in contravention of CITES and legally should not be trading in seahorses and, if they do, they are actually required to have a CITES II certificate to accompany the object.  

If they can in fact prove (and the emphasis on proof is that they have to have physical evidence if challenged by anyone) that the seahorses are from a sustainable source, then they can trade but if they cannot  then it is illegal and as Etsy are the host they are also breaking the law as they are providing a platform and conspiring to sell a legally protected species.  However, the harvesting of seahorses whether from a sustainable source or not is morally wrong and threatens the survival of these creatures.

It is also important to note that once sold the recipients are also bound by CITES as they have bought a CITES protected species.

The Seahorse Trust would ask Etsy to either ban the sale of seahorse products or, at the very least to ensure legal regulations are complied with, make it a requirement for sellers of seahorse products to ask for CITES proof when ads are submitted, as part of the advertising system - the seller could scan in the CITES certificate at the same time as scanning the photos to appear in the ad.  Better should take the moral stance and ban the sale of seahorse products altogether, which Ebay have already done.

By allowing the sale of real seahorse products, online marketplaces such as Etsy are condoning this trade and also contributing to the demand for seahorse products and thereby their continued killing.

The Seahorse Trust - Registered charity 1086027

www.theseahorsetrust.org
www.britishseahorsesurvey.org
FACEBOOK The Seahorse Trust
TWITTER @seahorsecharity The Seahorse Trust
SKYPE Seahorses12

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Recent signers:
Tony Lawn and 19 others have signed recently.

The Issue

Etsy has been found to allow the sale of real seahorses in jewellery and other trinkets.  Seahorses dead or alive, whole or part thereof and even in antique items can't be legally sold, and yet they can be found for sale online. These creatures are protected under Appendix II of CITES. CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.  Millions and millions of seahorses are killed every year for fashion accessories, trinkets and Chinese medicine.  It is projected that in 30 years seahorses will be extinct.

It is a legal requirement to be able to prove that the seahorses are harvested from a sustainable source (even though any harvesting of seahorses is morally wrong, whether sustainable or not).  However, enquiries to date by The Seahorse Trust have shown that many sellers on Etsy are in contravention of CITES and legally should not be trading in seahorses and, if they do, they are actually required to have a CITES II certificate to accompany the object.  

If they can in fact prove (and the emphasis on proof is that they have to have physical evidence if challenged by anyone) that the seahorses are from a sustainable source, then they can trade but if they cannot  then it is illegal and as Etsy are the host they are also breaking the law as they are providing a platform and conspiring to sell a legally protected species.  However, the harvesting of seahorses whether from a sustainable source or not is morally wrong and threatens the survival of these creatures.

It is also important to note that once sold the recipients are also bound by CITES as they have bought a CITES protected species.

The Seahorse Trust would ask Etsy to either ban the sale of seahorse products or, at the very least to ensure legal regulations are complied with, make it a requirement for sellers of seahorse products to ask for CITES proof when ads are submitted, as part of the advertising system - the seller could scan in the CITES certificate at the same time as scanning the photos to appear in the ad.  Better should take the moral stance and ban the sale of seahorse products altogether, which Ebay have already done.

By allowing the sale of real seahorse products, online marketplaces such as Etsy are condoning this trade and also contributing to the demand for seahorse products and thereby their continued killing.

The Seahorse Trust - Registered charity 1086027

www.theseahorsetrust.org
www.britishseahorsesurvey.org
FACEBOOK The Seahorse Trust
TWITTER @seahorsecharity The Seahorse Trust
SKYPE Seahorses12

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Tee GreenPetition Starter
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The Decision Makers

Etsy
Etsy
Responded
“At Etsy, we believe that business can be a force for good, and we are always striving to find ways to more closely align our business practices with our values. Many of our sellers also share these values, and have taken it upon themselves to make ethical choices in the running of their businesses. It is important to note that Etsy is not a traditional retailer with a curated inventory, but a marketplace comprised of 1.8 million independent sellers. We are very careful about the policies we promulgate for our platform. We consider many different and often divergent factors before coming to a decision about what is best for our community and platform. We know that even those items we allow are subject to a variety of valid and sometimes conflicting interpretations and values. Art, animal products, and historical pieces can be provocative, emotional, and divisive. There are some topics on which we may never reach a consensus as a community. Unlike many other online venues, we have just one global marketplace instead of a separate marketplace for each country. This also creates unique policy challenges, because we want to come up with a global policy that strikes the right balance for all of our buyers and sellers, as well as our broader stakeholders. Sometimes certain jurisdictions have stricter regulations than our global policies, and in those cases we rely on government agents to identify any listings that violate local laws, and we will remove them. Our policy regarding animal products on our platform is to follow international industry standards to ban endangered and threatened animal species, as outlined in the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix I. With the help of trusted NGO partners, we proactively remove ESA and CITES Appendix I species from our marketplace. We also require that our sellers agree to our policies when they list items for sale on our site, which includes following their local laws and obtaining any necessary permits. Seahorses fall under CITES Appendix II, which means that they are not endangered, but some jurisdictions require sellers to obtain permits in order to sell them. While we do not monitor CITES Appendix II species, we will remove listings reported to us by a government agency in jurisdictions where their sale is prohibited. We are certainly empathetic to your concern about seahorses and support your advocacy, but as we are not qualified to make decisions about the classification of endangered species, we will continue to rely on the CITES Appendix I (as well as compliance with local law) in our policy enforcement. Perhaps you could lobby CITES to move seahorses to Appendix I, which would place greater restrictions on their trade, and bring them within the scope of our Prohibited Items Policy. Our policy development is an ongoing process, and we thank you for your suggestions, which we will take into consideration as we continue to develop our policies around animal products.”

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Petition created on 3 July 2017